Sabbatical
by toomuchfandom
Summary: Sequel to Holiday. Gibbs decides to ignore Jen's orders and play a game. SLASH Gibbs/Ducky. Written many moons ago...


December 5th, 2005

**TITLE: **Sabbatical

**AUTHOR: **WillowBarby  
**FANDOM: **NCIS  
**PAIRING: **Leroy Jethro Gibbs/Donald "Ducky" Mallard plus 2 guest couples.  
**GENRE:** Slash  
**SUB-GENRE:** Established Relationship  
**SUMMARY:** Gibbs and Ducky play a game

**WORDS**: 3235 words  
**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own them, don't make money from this, I'm just borrowing them from time to time for a little harmless fun.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Written for rarepair Challenge #5: Christmas. Beta-ed by Ren.

This story is a sequel to my fic Holiday. You should read that one first before tackling this one.

--

December 5th, 2005

They had been celebrating Sinterklaas at Paula's, Ducky's cousin in Den Helder in Holland. Their idea of unwrapping gifts was playing monopoly, so whenever you ended up in jail you had to drink alcohol, and whenever you passed "start" you got a present.

Since Ducky ended up in jail a lot, he was practically wasted when they returned to their hotel via taxi cab. Gibbs however had no trouble with undressing his drunken lover and putting him to bed, decided to go to sleep too.

Just when Gibbs was almost asleep his phone rang. "Shhh…" he said to the phone and decided to pick it up not wanting to wake up Ducky. "Gibbs."

"Boss, I'm sorry to call you…"

"What is it McGee?" Gibbs sat up again and put on the light, which was followed by the stir of his lover behind him.

"Something happened and the director ordered me to call you to order you to come back."

"You're ordering ME McGee?" he raised his voice a bit.

"It's about one of your ex wives sir."

"I'm on a holiday can't it wait?" _Damn ex-wife! _Gibbs thought.

"No."

"What's going on?"

"I can't tell you over the phone sir."

"Tell Jen that I'm not coming."

"Eh… I did and she said that she's on her way to drag you out of your hotel suite." McGee stammered.

"Dammit McGee!"

Gibbs hung up on McGee and felt like throwing his phone across the hotel room, but he was afraid that he'd wake up Ducky. Not that it mattered now; his drunken lover had woken up.

"Throw it." Ducky muttered.

Gibbs chuckled and indeed threw it at the farthest wall of the hotel room before lying down again. "Well done." Ducky giggled and snuggled up.

"Go back to sleep Duck…" Gibbs said softly and took his lover in his arms. "We're going to disappear when we wake up again."

"Huh?"

"Go back to sleep." Gibbs kissed his partner on the forehead. "I'll tell you in the morning." Gibbs had already a plan cooked up. No way in hell was Jen going to get him and Ducky back to America. He'd just call all 3 ex wives and ask what the hell was going on from a payphone. He tried not to sleep like a rock that night, but the alcohol in his system had made him drowsy. Even though he didn't drink as much as Ducky, he woke up at 9 am.

December 6th, 2005

Ducky was woken up nicely by his lover. He felt dreadful, he was happy not to be hung over, but that was only because he rarely got drunk. He felt the soft lips of his Jethro on his, and slowly opened his eyes. Thankfully, Jethro had left the curtains closed. "Good morning."

"Good morning Jethro." Ducky slowly got up. "Ow." He moaned.

"Hang over?"

"No." Ducky looked at his lover who was trying to hide his giggle. "Definitely not."

"Good, take a shower Duck. We're leaving after breakfast." Gibbs laughed. "Jen is on her way to get us." He continued on a more serious note.

"Why?"

"McGee called last night. Something to do with one of my ex wives. Jen knew I wasn't coming back voluntarily so she's on her way."

Ducky noticed that Jethro was already fully dressed. He had also packed their bags and it showed that he had already had his coffee too and had been waiting for him to wake up. Before he could ask why they were leaving, Jethro already answered. "We're leaving because you put so much effort in me getting off from work. I'm not letting one of my ex wives spoil it." Ducky got helped out of bed by his lover and gave him a little push towards the shower.

"Hurry, Duck. Jen might be here sooner than we think."

"Isn't this a little childish Jethro?"

"No. This is being egoistic for once."

"I mean… aren't we getting a little too old for this?" Ducky turned on the shower. He didn't bother undressing as he was, well, already undressed thanks to his lover. He stepped underneath the weak water flow what most hotels had. ( good observation)

"Nope. Hurry."

A few hours later, they were at Schiphol airport again. It had only been a few days since both men had been there, but it felt like forever. Since Gibbs' cell phone was already busted, they had left it behind in the hotel room in Den Helder, a little bread crumb to find for Jen, who wasn't getting her hands on them. Gibbs wasn't letting her. "Duck, give me your cell phone." Gibbs held out his hand for the phone.

"What are you going to do with it dear?" Ducky reached into the pocket of his coat and handed it over.

"Call the exes, then throw your phone away."

"What?"

"GPS thingy. McGee can trace us." Gibbs managed to chuckle mischievously. They sat down in a café with coffee and tea while Gibbs called the ex wives. After every call he felt himself grow frustrated, ultimately leading to being angry but he wouldn't throw a scene at the airport. He'd just try to stay calm. "No ex wife issue." He calmly explained to Ducky.

"Jen made it up?" Ducky said not so surprised.

"Of course. She likes to destroy good times." Gibbs took a sip of his coffee. "She's one of the few women that **I **left, for damn good reasons."

"I know why you left Jen." Ducky snorted. "But that's all."

"Yeah…" Gibbs nodded absently. He fiddled a bit with the phone, removing the back of the phone, the battery, and the little card that was inside of it. Being a-technical didn't mean he didn't know how these things worked. He put the card of the phone into the residue of his coffee. He noticed how Ducky looked at him, a surprised look on his face. "What?" Gibbs laughed.

"Nothing." Ducky grinned. "I thought you were anti cell phone."

"I am. That's how I keep ruining the phone, or the beeper or whatever."

"So where are we going to, Jethro?" Ducky took a sip of his tea.

"England."

"Ah."

Ducky decided to play along with Gibbs' game, because it meant that he could spend the entire day with him, every single day until Gibbs decided to return home. Ducky already had the feeling that it was going to last longer than their actual holiday and he could see the humor in it. Both men were workaholics, and they knew they were one of the best – if not the best – workers NCIS had. "But why England, Jethro dear? Wouldn't Jen follow us there?"

"Yep." Stars were twinkling in his lovers' eyes. "And she can trace us because we simply use our own names, but once we land in London, she can't find us, because we're going to be miles away in a hotel room and when we think it's enough, we go to a different country."

Ducky liked it that Jethro was enjoying himself. It made his lover obviously feeling a few years younger, and Ducky noticed that the same feeling counted for him. Doing something as ridiculous and childish as this was something different, naughty even.

"Jen isn't going to get us, and when she does, we'll be at work." Gibbs grinned.

December 8th 2005

They had been travelling for a day and a half now and had ended up in York. On their way they didn't rent a car, but travelled by train, which Ducky loved because he could see more of his beloved England than just London again. He could see that Jethro loved it too; they could do anything, well almost anything, in the train, and see the environment. It also gave Ducky the opportunity to tell his Jethro more about England, and Jethro didn't even shush him.

They had taken the ferry across the Mersey to Liverpool, and as he and Jethro both liked The Beatles, they decided to stay in Liverpool and visit some sights, before going more up north the next day.

And there they were, they were walking around in the old part of York, the Charles Dicken-ish centre with the Shambles and the shortest street with the longest name, "Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate". Ducky loved to inform Jethro that "gate" didn't mean "gate" but the word was from the Viking word "gata" which meant "street". After bringing their suitcases to the nearest guesthouse which looked absolutely fantastic and was only half a mile away of the old York Centre, they went to the Jorvic Centre, a interactive museum about the Vikings, and of course the lovely York Minster which was a master piece. Ducky was especially delighted when they were there as there was a choir rehearsing for Christmas and the base of the speakers just echo-ed through the huge Minster, making the floor vibrate just enough for him to feel it in his whole body.

They had dinner in a lovely restaurant at Stonegate, before they headed back to the Victorian guesthouse.

December 15th, 2005

They had spent a few days in York visiting more sights like the National Railway Museum with the Mallard locomotive, which Gibbs found very amusing, before travelling on to Windermere and Newcastle. Since Gibbs was in control of their "escape-from-Jen-game", he had given Ducky the chance to go to Edinburgh or to Cologne, Germany with the ferry from Newcastle to Ijmuiden, Holland and then travel by train. Ducky had chosen Edinburgh because he didn't really like being on the water, the sea was big, salty and empty. Gibbs already felt sorry for his lover, as the thought alone of being on water made Ducky look queasy. Gibbs decided to go to Cologne through Edinburgh Airport.

The hotel they were in was nice. The hotel room was absolutely brilliant, it was big enough for the two of them, and yet as cosy as it could be.

"Jethro?" Ducky asked sleepily as he snuggled up to him.

"Duck?" Gibbs used the same tone of voice as his lover did and put his arms around him.

"This is nice." Ducky kissed him in tenderly on his neck, which made Gibbs' body respond immediately, but they had been awake all night, making love, talking, making love over and over again and he knew he could go on for a little longer but his lover was obviously tired.

"Me too Duck." Gibbs lovingly caressed his older companion's hair. He couldn't help but feel satisfied, not only because he was still alone and in a foreign country with his beau, but also because Jen still hadn't found them. This game was getting too fun to play and he only started it out of frustration. "Hey Duck…?"

"Hmm?" Ducky replied, Gibbs knowing for sure his lover was close to being asleep.

"Do you still have friends in New York?" Gibbs shifted a little.

"Yes dear."

"Would you like to visit them?"

"If you want to dear." Ducky replied willingly, letting out a sleepy moan as Gibbs was nuzzling his neck.

"Then we're going to New York." Gibbs decided, slowly caressing Ducky's back, teasingly.

"Jethro." Ducky giggled, his body responding to Gibbs' touch. "We won't be going anywhere if you keep up with this."

"You're just so damn gorgeous Duck." Gibbs whispered hoarsely in Ducky's ear.

December 18th, 2005

New York was cold, chilly and charming like most of the times Ducky had been there. He was excited to meet his old friends again, mostly because he knew them for about 30 years now, if not longer, from his time as an ME for Scotland Yard. Ever since he met them, he had been making it an effort to learn Russian, just for fun. The first time Ducky took Gibbs to his friends, he was surprised that Gibbs knew how to speak Russian. He didn't know why though. Not that they needed to speak Russian, but it was fun sometimes when they were out to dinner with the four of them.

"Let's hope they're home, because I didn't call them." Gibbs snickered. "I should have though."

"Most definitely Jethro." Ducky laughed. Ducky had always known his old friends were special. Due to work issues, they could never express themselves truly, especially in the 60's it wasn't quite accepted as it was now. Ducky felt fortunate that his co-workers knew about him and Jethro, even Jen knew. However Ducky had always known, long before they had told him. For some reason, those two were meant for each other like he and Jethro were.

The door opened, and a man looking a bit like Ducky himself, but a little bit older, appeared, the sight of Gibbs and Ducky made him smile widely and his eyes started to shine even brighter than they did already. "Gibbs! Ducky! _CHto Vy delayete zdes'?_"

"Hello, Illya." Ducky laughed at the enthusiasm of the older man. "It looks like we're travelling all across the world."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Mine." Jethro replied giddily.

"Come in!" Illya's _dendi, _Napoleon, echoed from the inside.

"Well you heard him, come in." Illya smiled. "It's cold with the door open, Napoleon needs warmth."

"Oh shush Illyusha." Napoleon complained when Gibbs and Ducky entered their home.

"Napoleon has fallen off the stairs and has been complaining about pain, but he is too stubborn to go and see a doctor." Illya explained while hanging up the coats of Ducky and Jethro. "He is too old for this nonsense."

"I am fine!"

Ducky knew, that if Illya was being clucky, he was really worried, and the somewhat undisturbed, stoic Russian usually kept his feelings to himself. "Well Napoleon," Ducky said, "too bad for you your Illya is worried about you, and I am a doctor." Ducky could have sworn he could hear a grunt coming out of the living room as they walked towards it. Illya, who was walking behind him and Jethro, grinned silently, though Ducky could hear him loud and clear.

"Well not now." Napoleon smiled up to him and Jethro. "Nice to see you again." Napoleon was sitting in a big comfortable chair with his leg up and the side table filled with food and fresh tea.

The afternoon passed quickly. They had been talking about all sorts of things, Illya and Napoleon obviously enjoyed hearing tales about Ducky and Jethro's work, about what had happened, about their co-workers. Ducky figured that the two old spies were close to getting bored as they had cut back their working hours. Napoleon was still the head of the company they were working for, and Illya was head of the laboratory department. Ducky knew, that what his friends did for a living was top secret and they didn't talk much about it. But now Napoleon was incapacitated Illya could somehow split himself in half and do Napoleon's job as well. When Jethro told Illya and Napoleon about the little game he was really enjoying, both men laughed hard. "_My slishkom stary dl'a etogo, no eto – zabava."_ Illya had roared with laughter. (We are too old for that, but it is fun)

"See Illyusha?" Napoleon said in an 'I-told-you-so' manner after Ducky had finished his examination. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"Except for some strained muscles." Ducky added. "You need to rest as much as you can."

"This time." Illya glared at Napoleon. "Next time, I think you aren't lucky." Napoleon smiled sweetly at Illya, which made Illya smile. "Ducky, Gibbs, are you staying for dinner?" Illya asked them.

December 22th, 2005

After staying in New York for a while, recovering from jetlag and a very late night over at Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo's apartment, and seeing a few Broadway shows, they went to San Francisco. Dressed warmly, they had long walks in Golden Gate Park and had a passionate night in the hotel.

Both Gibbs and Ducky got a fright when the phone in their hotel room rang. Gibbs knew this was the end of their "game" and Jen had eventually found them. Or McGee or Abby did. All they had to do is follow their bank transactions. Gibbs knew that. They both stared at the phone for a long time and let it ring, and then Gibbs decided to pick it up.

"Gibbs."

"Thank God I found you boss." McGee's voice sounded.

"Well I'm not thanking him." Gibbs muttered. He put his free arm around the naked body of his lover and softly kissed him on his forehead.

"The director orders you to come back to Washington, or else."

"Or else, what McGee?" Gibbs raised his voice a bit.

"She didn't say sir…" McGee stammered. "Just that Ducky needs to get his ass back here because Jimmy is screwing up and Abby is pulling double shifts to help him out."

"Jimmy isn't doing well, Duck." Gibbs said softly to his almost sleeping partner in crime. "Abby needs to help him."

"Hmm… okay…" Ducky nodded.

"Fine." Gibbs said to McGee over the phone. "After Christmas. We'll report back."

"No, Jethro, I want you back NOW." Jen had obviously grabbed the phone out of McGee's hands. "I'm sick and tired of following you around!"

"As if you went through all that trouble to follow me and Ducky in England, Jen." The other end of the line fell dead. Gibbs grinned inwardly. "We'll be back as soon as we'll be ready."

With that, Gibbs broke the connection and put his other arm around his – now sleeping – lover.

December 24th, 2005

They stumbled into the house, kissing ever since they got out of the taxi, arousing each other all the way from San Francisco back home to Washington, in the train, in the bus, in the taxi and they weren't going to let any one stop them. Unless…

"Finally!" Jen's voice sounded. Both men were startled, and immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at her, stunned. She had cut her hair, Ducky noticed.

"One would think after a month without work and being with each other all the time you would have had enough of each other."

"You know Jen… you should stop being who you are." Gibbs shot at her and threw his suitcase through the hall way. "Now what?"

"I was trying to get you out of Holland because I was dying to tell you something. But since you decided to do a runner, am going to give you an early Christmas present." Jen crossed her arms over her chest.

"Stop speaking in riddles."

"You're right." Jen started. "All your suspicions about Ziva are true. All your suspicions about me… well you know they're true. Ziva and I do have a special relationship. We're together."

"Congratulations." Ducky said (almost) speechless and poked Gibbs to say the same.

"Congratulations… yes." Gibbs echo-ed. "I never knew Jen."

"I know. Me neither."

"Are you happy with Ziva, Director?" Ducky asked.

"Yes I am."

"So am I." Ziva emerged from the shadows, smiling geekily.

"I never should have given you a key to my house." Gibbs laughed. Happy, that Jen finally got off his back. Happy, that Ziva finally found her match. Unhappy, that Ziva could inform Jen about the ins and outs about Gibbs' team, well all the ins and outs she didn't know yet. Happy, that he could spend his Christmas alone with Ducky.

"Merry Christmas, Jethro." Jen smiled.

fin


End file.
